One of the main dilemmas working in healthcare today is prescribing medications for a particular health problem which patients can afford. Many medical offices provide samples to their patients because of the cost of medications. This is only a short-term solution because there is a limited amount of sample medication available. Currently Medicare does not cover pharmaceutical expenses for the elderly population which means most medications are paid out-of-pocket. There are a lot of elderly patients in
A couple of weeks ago I heard of a “polypill.” This is several medications rolled into one pill. It contains aspirin, a statin (cholesterol lowering), three blood pressure lowering agents, and folic acid. I needed to do a little research on it and found this article. I personally think this is a good direction to go for the patients who are on multiple medications for heart disease, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. I only hope the polypill does not cost six times the amount of the regular prescription cost. I had heard the reason for rolling all of the medications into one pill was to cut cost. I really hope it is true and hope this is a new trend to cut costs of prescription medications.